5 ms·

I think it would have been much better to outlaw misrepresentation and advertising without prior agreement (ie the pizza place that did not agree to partnership

I think it would have been much better to outlaw misrepresentation and advertising without prior agreement (ie the pizza place that did not agree to partnership should only pop up in the search results if the user searches for it) and there should be a warning mandated like "Startup Inc is not affiliated with the Moms and Pops Pizza. If you proceed, we will place your order by calling PHONE_NUMBER and pick up your order from ADDRESS". It should still be legal for the end users to have a service do chores for them including picking up food but only if there is no confusion on the side of the user what is happening here (incl. the fact the pizza may get cold through a no fault of Moms and Pops Pizza). Edit: oh, the law would also outlaw food picking apps from delivering from Walmart too ("The code defines food facility [...] as an operation that stores, [...] or otherwise provides food [...] at the retail level.")

hedora 6y ago
Agreed. Misrepresenting the relationship with the restaurants is the problem, not the existence of the delivery service. As written, the bill seems so poorly thought out that I wonder if the authors has some alternate motive. Regulatory capture, maybe? Also, this doesn’t ban setting up fake websites to take orders, and then forwarding them to hapless restaurant owners. Honestly, just enforcing existing trademark law would be more effective.
- smarx007 6y ago
  I think "shall not arrange for the delivery of an order" in § 22599 pretty much bans taking orders. But yes, it does not ban setting up fake websites, unfortunately. So a food delivery service can still put up a fake website only to tell a user on a landing page "we are sorry, Moms and Pops pizza does not take orders online, how about a slice of Jack and Jill's pizza instead?"
  - ip26 6y ago
    That's just fraud though, if they are representing themselves as Moms and Pops
    - dv_dt 6y ago
      Fraud and perhaps trademark infringement
jedimastert 6y ago
I've noticed that Doordash can sometimes do the opposite: if I search for a particular dish or genre (pizza, grilled cheese, pasta, Chinese take out, etc.) I'll often get restaurants that I can't pull up by searching for the name. I thought they were punishing or something, I just now realized they might be doing it to hide from search results or to hid the fact that the restaurants are listed...
- cbhl 6y ago
  I actually think those are the cases where they do have an agreement with a restaurant owner. Usually it's a made-up restaurant name for marketing, since the concrete implementation is a different restaurant's kitchen or a ghost kitchen. Like I'll search for "salad" and the address is listed as some pizza place, but it comes in a special bag that matches the online restaurant name.
powersnail 6y ago
> the law would also outlaw food picking apps from delivering from Walmart too Only if Walmart doesn't consent.

hedora 6y ago

Agreed. Misrepresenting the relationship with the restaurants is the problem, not the existence of the delivery service. As written, the bill seems so poorly thought out that I wonder if the authors has some alternate motive. Regulatory capture, maybe? Also, this doesn’t ban setting up fake websites to take orders, and then forwarding them to hapless restaurant owners. Honestly, just enforcing existing trademark law would be more effective.

smarx007 6y ago
I think "shall not arrange for the delivery of an order" in § 22599 pretty much bans taking orders. But yes, it does not ban setting up fake websites, unfortunately. So a food delivery service can still put up a fake website only to tell a user on a landing page "we are sorry, Moms and Pops pizza does not take orders online, how about a slice of Jack and Jill's pizza instead?"
- ip26 6y ago
  That's just fraud though, if they are representing themselves as Moms and Pops
  - dv_dt 6y ago
    Fraud and perhaps trademark infringement

jedimastert 6y ago

I've noticed that Doordash can sometimes do the opposite: if I search for a particular dish or genre (pizza, grilled cheese, pasta, Chinese take out, etc.) I'll often get restaurants that I can't pull up by searching for the name. I thought they were punishing or something, I just now realized they might be doing it to hide from search results or to hid the fact that the restaurants are listed...

cbhl 6y ago
I actually think those are the cases where they do have an agreement with a restaurant owner. Usually it's a made-up restaurant name for marketing, since the concrete implementation is a different restaurant's kitchen or a ghost kitchen. Like I'll search for "salad" and the address is listed as some pizza place, but it comes in a special bag that matches the online restaurant name.

powersnail 6y ago

> the law would also outlaw food picking apps from delivering from Walmart too Only if Walmart doesn't consent.